Posts Tagged ‘Vermont’
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Cosmic Gazpacho
Some might call it a gastronomic convergence. All week long we can expect an exceptional alignment of vegetables at produce stands across northern New England.
Uber-ripe tomatoes, heavenly melons, red-as-Mars peppers, onions so sweet they don’t bring tears to your eyes . . . they’re all piled high and waiting for the right person to unlock their true potential. Starry-eyed cooks will seize this rare opportunity to make an out-of-this-world gazpacho.On a more down-to-earth level, a big batch of cold, refreshing gazpacho is the perfect food to have on hand with the long weekend coming up. You can pack it into a thermos for a picnic lunch by the lake or float a few Maine pink shrimp on top for an elegant dinner starter.
The almost sweet, thirst-quenching watermelon gazpacho often served at Mirabelles in Burlington, Vermont, inspires our recipe below. Red tomatoes and red watermelon give it a fabulous nearly infrared hue. For a lovely lutescent variation, substitute yellow heirloom tomatoes, yellow ‘Baby Doll’ watermelon or a Charentais cantaloupe, and a yellow bell pepper.
WATERMELON GAZPACHO
from the FarmPlate KitchenAbout 6 pounds ripe red tomatoes
1 small watermelon, such as ‘Moon & Stars’ or ‘Sugar Baby’
2 cucumbers
2 small onions, minced
1 red bell pepper, trimmed, seeded and cut into small dice
½ cup minced fresh parsley
¼ cup rice vinegar or other mild vinegar
¼ cup good olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons Absolut Citron, optional
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 or 2 dashes Spanish smoked paprika1. Peel and seed the tomatoes. When tomatoes are truly ripe, they’re easy to peel with a sharp paring knife. Or, cut an X on the bottom of the tomatoes, drop into boiling water for no more than 30 seconds. Rinse with cold water, then peel and seed. Put half of the tomatoes into the bowl of a large food processor; slice the other half into tiny dice and place in a large mixing bowl.
2. Slice the watermelon in half. Scoop half of the flesh into a food processor. Cut enough of the remaining watermelon into small dice to give you two cups worth. Add the diced watermelon to the bowl with the tomatoes. (You can blend any remaining watermelon with juice or rum for a refreshing cocktail.)
3. Peel, slice and seed the cucumbers. Chop one cucumber and add to the food processor. Cut the other into tiny dice and add to the bowl with the diced tomatoes and watermelon.
4. Process the vegetables in the food processor until smooth. Pour into the mixing bowl. Stir in the onions, bell peppers, parsley, vinegar, oil, lemon juice and vodka, if desired, salt, pepper and paprika. Chill for at least two hours. Taste and adjust the seasonings before serving.
Serves 10 to 12 (makes about 2½ quarts)
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Outstanding in a Vermont Field
Great meals are not out of the ordinary in Orleans County, Vermont’s localvore Mecca. Still, August 17 stands out, even in the minds and palates of Vermont’s hippest foodsters. That was the day the
Outstanding in the Field’s red-and-white bus pulled into the driveway at Pete’s Greens at Craftsbury Village Farm to begin assembling one very long table for one unforgettable meal. A touring “restaurant without walls,” Outstanding in the Field brings together local chefs and producers for a special culinary experience in a beautiful outdoor setting. Here, the very two people who made the event possible share their experiences:Pete Johnson, owner/farmer, entrepreneur, Pete’s Greens, Craftsbury, Vermont
The OITF crew was great to work with. Relaxed, organized, they really made it easy for us to
host them. Dinner was held in our farm field and for a few weeks I had pondered what might be the best location. Most of our field is taken up with ripening crops or is bare, waiting for fall plantings. There were not a lot of open options. Just by luck, we happened to have several acres of three-foot-tall buckwheat in full flower. This is grown as a cover crop, is a bee favorite, has a sweet scent and would make a perfect location for dinner. We mowed a narrow rectangle in the buckwheat for the long table.
Pete Johnson, owner of Pete's Greens
After a reception and leisurely tour, we made our way to the far end of the field and settled into the field of buckwheat. Over the next two hours, the combination of incredible food prepared by Eric Warnstedt of Hen of the Wood, beautiful late summer weather, good company and the fragrant buckwheat made for a magical evening. Dinner featured our pork at every course, including candied bacon for dessert. Eric and his crew can really cook—I’d recommend a trip to his restaurant in Waterbury.
Eric Warnstedt, chef/owner, Hen of the Wood, Waterbury, Vermont
Outstanding in the Field represents everything I focus on and get excited about in the restaurant world—a blend of history and tradition, a casual and relaxed vibe, a focused and motivated crew. Most importantly, OITF is all about the food, the wine and the experience.
Hen of the Wood Chef Eric Warnstedt
Weeks ahead of time, we decided on doing porchetta as a main course. That gave Pete the time he needed to get the pigs ready for the butcher. I knew I probably wouldn’t think about the event again until a few days before. Sure enough, a “few weeks away” rolled into a “few days away” and it was time to start checking out veggie availability and to begin preparations.
Brining and curing were at the top of the list. A huge plastic bin held all of the porchettas in their brine, taking up way too much space in our little walk-in. The pork was eventually taken out of the brine and laid out, rubbed with rosemary, garlic, salt, fennel seed and mustard. The event was on a Tuesday and all the produce was being delivered on the Saturday before. We made room for five flats of heirloom tomatoes, 20 pounds of broccoli, 20 pounds of Pete’s gold potatoes, 15 heads of radicchio, 2 wheels of Jasper Hill blue cheese,
10 cases of wine and copious amounts of herbs, nuts, salt, oil, prosciutto, bacon, cornmeal etc.!The big day: We’re not really prepared for off-site catering at Hen of the Wood, so it was a bit of an ordeal. Sous chef Jordan had made it clear that his brand-new Subaru was not to carry the pork! Long story short, we rolled into Pete’s Greens at about 1 pm. ready to rock.
The Outstanding crew had already arrived and was setting up the “kitchen.” We were driven down to the dining table, which was about a quarter mile away in a spot more beautiful than any of us could have imagined. A cover crop of buckwheat had been cut out to create a pathway and then a dining area. From a few feet away you would have never guessed there would soon be 80 people dining in the field.
We got our bearings and started loading the two six-foot grills with hardwood charcoal. The porchettas, a glass of wine each and a host of random things all laid out in their proper
places. The night went off without a hitch. Every few minutes a guest would come by to say hello or take pictures. My mother attended the evening and was glowing with pride and enthusiasm for the whole affair.As the sun was setting, the sky turned shades of blue, orange and purple. We all seemed to be feeling the same vibration—smiling gleefully and peacefully, somewhat overwhelmed with perfect weather and the absolutely gorgeous evening just trying to take it all in before nightfall.
Heirloom Tomatoes with Grilled Prosciutto
from Pete Johnson, Pete’s Greens, Craftsbury, Vermont5 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 shallot, diced
½ tablespoon kosher salt
½ cup basil
5 pints mixed heirloom tomatoes, coarsely chopped
6 slices of prosciutto (we use domestic prosciutto from La Quercia), sautéed until crispy and chopped
1 tablespoon pine nuts
Pinch of sea saltIn a large bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, shallots and salt. Chop the basil and immediately add to the dressing to avoid discoloration. Add the tomatoes and stir gently to mix. Transfer to a decorative platter.
Scatter the prosciutto over the tomatoes, the sprinkle the pine nuts on top. Sprinkle a few flakes of good sea salt on top to finish.
Serves 8
See more great images of Outstanding in the Field on our flickr page!
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Build a Table for a Feast
It was gray and drizzling in Woodstock, Vermont, last Sunday, but the weather didn’t diminish the festivities for the 128 people who gathered just off the Green, under the Middle Covered Bridge, to celebrate a weekend spent hand-building tables and feasting on a lunch made from locally grown foods.
Bagpiper Tim Cummings blew up a stately march to welcome diners who took their places around the tables, which were hand-built that weekend by 17 individuals and families who participated in the Naked Table Project sponsored by ShackletonThomas.The Naked Table was conceived by well-known furniture maker Charlie Shackleton last year. Shackleton had a vision of people hand-building a table from sustainably harvested wood, a table that would serve as the center of festive meals for friends and family for years to come. It’s a tangible reflection of Shackleton’s passion for handmade things that connect people to each other and to the environment.
Participants in the weekend’s workshop built tables from maple harvested from land in South Woodstock. “These trees were seedlings 80 years ago,” Shackleton pointed out. “That’s when Herbert Hoover was president and the Great Depression was well underway.” After cutting, the lumber was dried and milled in Hartland. The tables were then assembled by their owners under the tutelage of Charlie and other craftspeople from ShackletonThomas Furniture in nearby Bridgewater.
On Sunday morning, the tables were trucked into Woodstock and set end-to-end under the village’s covered bridge. Chefs from The Woodstock Inn prepared a feast from locally sourced cheese, meat and produce. Diners started with a roasted beet salad with Jasper Hill’s Bayley Hazen Blue, baby arugula and herb vinaigrette. The main course consisted of slow-poached Misty Knoll chicken with sliced heirloom tomatoes, yogurt and lemon verbena. And for dessert—an array of pies baked by members of the Prosper Community Club.
The tablemakers were joined by some of the people responsible for harvesting and milling the lumber, by family and friends and by local residents who were lucky enough to cop one of the few available seats. The meals were served by volunteers recruited by Sustainable Woodstock, a local environmental organization and the beneficiary of proceeds from the lunch.
This is the seventh Naked Table weekend that ShackletonThomas has hosted and the second time the celebratory lunch was held under Woodstock’s covered bridge. For more information, visit The Naked Table website.
Slow-Poached Chicken with Sliced Tomatoes, Yogurt & Lemon Verbena
from Chef Jason Lawless, The Woodstock Inn, Woodstock, VT
Woodstock Inn chefs Chris Babbin & Chris Lauinger serving Slow-Poached Chicken
2 tablespoons butter
Four 10-ounce organic Misty Knoll chicken breasts
About 1 quart plain yogurt
One 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, tough outer leaves removed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bunch fresh lemon verbena, finely chopped
2 medium heirloom tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
¼ cup pure Vermont maple syrup (try syrup from Kedron Sugarmakers)
Chopped fresh basil leaves for garnishPreheat the oven to 250°F.
Melt the butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts, skin down, and sear just until the skin turns golden brown, about 1 ½ minutes. Remove from the heat.
Pour 3 cups of the yogurt over the chicken. Stir in the ginger, lemongrass and one-quarter of the lemon verbena. Cover with foil and bake until cooked through, about an hour.
For the yogurt sauce, place the remaining 1 cup of yogurt in a bowl. Stir in just enough maple syrup to balance the tangy yogurt flavor and the rest of the lemon verbena.
Divide the tomato slices among the four plates. Slice the chicken breasts and arrange on top of the tomatoes. Spoon some of the yogurt sauce over the chicken and garnish with the basil.
Serves 4
See more great images of the Naked Table Lunch on our flickr page!
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Judge Bans Genetically Modified Sugar Beets
Federal district court Judge Jeffrey S. White revoked the government’s approval of the planting of genetically modified sugar beets Friday, August 13, in a San Francisco court. The beets, like
“Roundup Ready” soybeans, are genetically engineered to resist Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. Farmers that plant these varieties can use herbicides to kill weeds without hurting their crops, a process that is quicker than mechanical cultivation. The decision comes in the wake of the ongoing debate and increased concern that Roundup may be producing “super weeds.”Judge White ruled that the Department of Agriculture did not take into account the environmental consequences before approving the beets for commercial planting, reports the New York Times. The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought against the USDA by activist groups including the Center for Food Safety and the Sierra Club.
The affects of the new ruling won’t be seen for at least a year. The Wall Street Journal reports genetically modified beets that are currently planted will be allowed to be harvested, processed and sold as sugar. Genetically modified sugar beet seed will not be allowed to be planted until the USDA repeats its regulatory review process, which will include a mandatory written Environment Impact Statement.
This is the second challenge of Monsanto’s Roundup ready crops, the first being Roundup Ready Alfalfa, which is currently illegal to sell or plant after a Supreme Court decision last spring. The Supreme Court outlined in the ruling that “environmental harm” now may include genetic contamination.
More National News
Aug. 13: The value of farmland in the Central Plains region of the country has increased, despite lower reported farm incomes. Reuters
Aug. 12: Whole Foods and “Renegade Lunch Lady” Chef Ann Cooper are partnering to install nearly 300 salad bars in school cafeterias. Whole Foods Blog
Aug. 12: U.S. farmers are on track to produce the largest corn and soybeans harvest in history. Corn production is estimated at 13.4 billion bushels and soybeans are estimated at 3.43 billion bushels. USDA
Regional News
Aug. 16: Candidates running for Vermont governor lay out their views on environmental issues and policies. Times Argus
Aug. 16: The need for subsidized summer meal programs for low-income children has increased. Vermont Public Radio
Aug. 13: Maple Grove Farms of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, will no longer allow tourists to observe maple syrup production from the factory floor because of terrorism concerns. Associated Press
Aug.12: Vermont energy companies Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service have made a contract with HQ Energy Services, a subsidiary of Hydro-Quebec, to provide renewable low-emission energy. Market Watch
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Senate Passes Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act
The Senate passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on Thursday, a bill that will provide $4.5 billion to make school food more nutritious. The New York Times reports the bill was passed unanimously by the Senate and will now move to the House of Representatives, where it is also expected to pass. The current school nutrition legislation will expire on September 30.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will continue the existing nutrition programs in schools and add the first non-inflationary increase in funding since 1973.The funding will allow schools to update their menus with healthier choices and set higher health standards that include more fruits and vegetables and less salt and fat. School vending machines will be overhauled to provide nutritious options instead of junk food.
The funding will expand afternoon snack programs into full meal services for needy children and will also provide an increased number of free or reduced-price school lunches.
Michelle Obama has voiced her support for the passage of the bill in conjuction with her Let’s Move campaign, which aims to reduce childhood obesity.
More National News
Aug. 7: Farm Aid announced it will hold its 2010 concert at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
Aug. 6: Valley Meat Company, based in Modesto, California, has recalled one million pounds of ground beef for possible E. coli contamination. USDA
Aug. 6: Crayola LLC has installed 26,000 solar panels at its headquarters in Easton, Pennsylvania. Associated Press
Aug. 3: Heat in the Northeast has pushed up the apple harvest and may affect apple color. The Packer
July 30: New York Governor David Paterson signed a new law that will prohibit the sale of child care products containing bisphenol A. North Country Gazette
July 26: Despite the recession, sale of organic produce has grown by 12.1% for the year. Supermarket News
Regional News
Aug. 8: Late blight has affected gardens and farms in Vermont. Burlington Free Press
Aug. 7: Frank Perretta, the co-owner of the now defunct Vermont slaughterhouse Bushway Packing Inc., was arrested for animal cruelty charges. Associated Press
Aug. 4: Vermont will receive $116 million to increase broadband access in underserved areas. Vermont Business Magazine
Aug. 4: Vermont conservationist Elizabeth Putnam was honored at the White House with a 2010 Citizens Medal. Vermont Business Magazine
Aug. 2: The oldest family farm in the country is up for sale. The Tuttle Farm in Dover, New Hampshire, has been run by the Tuttle family for 378 years. NPR
July 31: Magic Hat Brewing Company may be sold to North American Breweries of Rochester, New York. North American Breweries owns Labatt USA. Boston Globe
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Zucchini Omelet
from the FarmPlate Kitchen1 pound zucchini, cut into ½-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A handful of fresh parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
A big pinch of chopped fresh thyme
4 large Vermont eggs (try farm-fresh eggs from Berway Farm and Creamery)
1 tablespoon unsalted butterSpread out the cubed zucchini, sprinkle with salt and set aside. Chop the parsley and garlic together until it almost forms a paste: set this “persillade” aside as well.
Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook slowly until meltingly soft but not browned, about 20 minutes. Stir in the thyme and remove from the heat.
Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, season with a generous grinding of pepper and a pinch of salt and whisk to blend.
The zucchini cubes will have given off some moisture by this time, pat them dry. In a large, heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring often, until lightly golden, about 4 minutes. Add the persillade and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the cooked onions. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the bowl with the eggs.
Return the skillet to the heat and warm the butter and the remaining one tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Quickly pour in the egg mixture and swirl the pan a little to distribute the eggs. Lower the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook for one minute. Nudge the omelet gently with a spatula to make sure it’s not sticking. Fold the omelet over and cook another minute or so to cook the eggs through.
Slide the omelet onto a serving plate. Serve with sliced tomatoes tossed with basil leaves and a favorite Vermont cheese.
Serves 2 to 3
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Gads of Zukes and Cukes!
It’s that time of year. It’s hot and humid and gardens are going bonkers. All across the country, men and women are walking into offices with armloads of cucumbers and zucchini cheerily telling their co-workers to help themselves to their backyard harvest.
This is one gift horse you really need to examine carefully. Push aside the three-pound cucumbers and the zucchinis as big as biceps. These cucurbits on steroids are often watery, spongy and bordering on flavorless. Try to select compact specimens that feel heavy for their size and have dark green skins.Zucchini enthusiasts love to grate the maxi-zukes for making zucchini bread. In fact, a quick Google search for a z-bread recipe produced more than seven million hits. While I’m sure there’s a winner among them somewhere, I’m not much of a zucchini bread fan. They’re always described as “moist” but to me it’s more like “damp.” In my opinion, zucchini is a vegetable and should be treated like a vegetable. The thin slices of garlic-basil scented zucchini topping Pizza on Earth’s “Garden” special or the exquisitely grilled zucchini ribbons on the “Feast of the Fields” platter at the Inn at Shelburne Farms—now that’s how to treat a zucchini!
A zucchini omelet makes a lovely treat on a summer evening too. Be sure to pick small, dark zucchinis. You can save the giants for a game of vegan touch football.
Zucchini Omelet
from the FarmPlate Kitchen1 pound zucchini, cut into ½-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A handful of fresh parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
A big pinch of chopped fresh thyme
4 large Vermont eggs (try farm-fresh eggs from Berway Farm and Creamery)
1 tablespoon unsalted butterSpread out the cubed zucchini, sprinkle with salt and set aside. Chop the parsley and garlic together until it almost forms a paste: set this “persillade” aside as well.
Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook slowly until meltingly soft but not browned, about 20 minutes. Stir in the thyme and remove from the heat.
Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, season with a generous grinding of pepper and a pinch of salt and whisk to blend.
The zucchini cubes will have given off some moisture by this time, pat them dry. In a large, heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring often, until lightly golden, about 4 minutes. Add the persillade and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the cooked onions. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the bowl with the eggs.
Return the skillet to the heat and warm the butter and the remaining one tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Quickly pour in the egg mixture and swirl the pan a little to distribute the eggs. Lower the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook for one minute. Nudge the omelet gently with a spatula to make sure it’s not sticking. Fold the omelet over and cook another minute or so to cook the eggs through.
Slide the omelet onto a serving plate. Serve with sliced tomatoes tossed with basil leaves and a favorite Vermont cheese.
Serves 2 to 3
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Brie Crostini with Raspberry Horseradish Jam
from Sean Buchanan
1 French baguette, sliced ¼-inch thick (try Red Hen Baking Co.)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
One 7-ounce wheel Blythedale Farms Brie, cut into ½-inch by 1-inch strips
1 cup raspberry jam (try Side Hill Farm or Sunshine Valley Berry Farm)
¼ cup freshly grated horseradish
1 teaspoon Kosher saltPreheat the oven to 350ºF.
Set the baguette slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil on top and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Toast until golden brown, about 6 minutes.
Top each crostini with a slice of Brie then return to the oven. Bake until the cheese starts to melt, about 3 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let cool.
In a small bowl, mix together the jam, horseradish and salt. Top each crostini with a dollop of the jam mixture and serve.
Serves 8 to 12
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Cheese, Love
Good cheese is true love.
I’m wading in a sea of cheesemakers, winemakers, brewers and fine food producers. In my right hand I’m holding my love, Sarah; in my left hand I’m holding Sarabande, another (not-so-secret) love of mine. Leave it to the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival to complicate the
romantic lives of cheese-lovers, if just for a day.The second annual Vermont Cheesemakers Festival on July 25th at Shelburne Farms welcomed 50 artisan cheesemakers from Vermont and western Massachusetts to the shores of Lake Champlain. Twenty Vermont wineries and breweries and 15 artisan food producers balanced the ticket. Tasting seminars and a cooking demonstration by Sean Buchanan, renowned chef turned salesman, inspired new ways of enjoying cheese. (See Sean’s simple-to-prepare recipe below.) In other words, I spent a day overwhelming my senses with creations from Vermont’s Dionysian artisans.
Seeing the wide array of cheesemakers at the festival led me to wonder, how did Vermont become this hub of cheese?
Not to insult Dionysus, but I’d contend that the origins of Vermont cheese are far more terrestrial: where Vermont’s soil is too rocky or full of clay for vegetables, it’s great for growing grass, and grazing animals, and making milk, and turning that milk into cheese. With the price of fluid milk ($11.30 per hundredweight in 2009) well below the cost to produce it ($18 per hundredweight) and a seemingly endless demand for Vermont artisan cheese, many of Vermont’s dairies have been adding or transitioning to cheese production to keep the family farm viable.
Unfortunately, good cheese can’t be made from just any milk. When a dairy transitions from fluid milk production to cheesemaking, it must shift from a volume-oriented model to a quality-oriented model so it is producing a flavorful, clean milk with a high concentration of fat and protein. Sometimes this means acquiring a different breed of animal, and it certainly requires different herd management and grazing methods. In addition, a bare-bones
cheesemaking facility costs upwards of $30,000. Then it’s on to the fun part: marketing and microbiology . . .Lucky for cheese, Vermonters have a strong do-it yourself spirit and the desire to try new things—not to mention an uncanny ability to excel in adverse circumstances.
Perhaps it is this broad skill set that makes Vermont’s cheesemakers so interesting, and their cheeses so complex. It’s unusual that so many elements of production are under the same (barn) roof—managing pasture, raising animals, milking, making cheese, aging cheese and marketing the finished product—but when Vermont cheesemakers bring everything together, the results are truly fit for the gods.
Thanks to the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival, you don’t have to travel to the heavens to rub elbows and eat cheese with the state’s most talented herdsmen-businesspeople-microbiologists (cheesemakers). A short walk is all it takes to fall in love over and over again. Until next year!
Planning Ahead
Vermont Farm Tours offers cheese tours and workshops the Saturday before the festival each year. Buy your tickets early (before July 2011)—this year’s Cheesemakers Festival sold out weeks before the event!Learn More
The Vermont Cheese Council provides an overview of its 41 members, their cheeses and the Vermont Cheese Trail—an interactive map of Vermont’s artisan cheesemakers.Visit Vermont’s artisan cheesemakers on a guided tour with Vermont Farm Tours or take a hands-on cheesemaking workshop.
Brie Crostini with Raspberry Horseradish Jam
from Sean Buchanan1 French baguette, sliced ¼-inch thick (try Red Hen Baking Co.)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
One 7-ounce wheel Blythedale Farms Brie, cut into ½-inch by 1-inch strips
1 cup raspberry jam (try Side Hill Farm or Sunshine Valley Berry Farm)
¼ cup freshly grated horseradish
1 teaspoon Kosher saltPreheat the oven to 350ºF.
Set the baguette slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil on top and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Toast until golden brown, about 6 minutes.
Top each crostini with a slice of Brie then return to the oven. Bake until the cheese starts to melt, about 3 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let cool.
In a small bowl, mix together the jam, horseradish and salt. Top each crostini with a dollop of the jam mixture and serve.
Serves 8 to 12
See more great images of the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival on our flickr page!
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Peaches – Fuzzy Memories
I heard the new cover by the Avett Brothers of the old John Prine song ‘Spanish Pipedream’ on the radio yesterday. It’s the one where “a level-headed dancer” counsels a soldier on his way to Montreal to “blow up your TV, plant a little garden and
eat a lot of peaches.” I’ve always loved that line about the peaches.The song was originally released on Prine’s first and self-titled album in 1971, back when most peach varieties, even the peaches sold by the crate at the supermarket, had serious peach fuzz. The fuzz was thick, like close-cropped velveteen. Today’s commercial varieties are practically fuzz-free and have more of a matte finish.
Scent memories remain the sharpest, and I can still remember the heady aroma coming off the crate of peaches as my dad toted it into the kitchen. My mom, like most Minnesota moms, canned peaches every summer. To peel the fuzzy peaches before canning, she would gently lower them into a pot of boiling water to cook for no more than a minute before plunging them into a bowlful of ice cold water. The peels would then slip off easily. She’d put up a dozen or more quarts of sweet, fragrant peaches that we’d enjoy through the winter.
Now in Vermont, I anxiously anticipate the arrival of Amish peaches at my local market. They’re a little fuzzy and intensely fragrant. Their season is about finished, so now I’m scouting out local peaches, which can be hard to come by. Most peach trees aren’t terrifically cold hardy, although some growers have had success with the McKay peach tree. Nick Cowles at Shelburne Orchards has some peach trees that will be ready for U-pickers soon.
Two-Sues Peach Custard Pie
I use the same peach-skinning technique described above when baking my favorite peach pie recipe, which is actually my ‘cover’ of a recipe made every summer by Suzanne Weil, a food mentor of mine, who learned it from her mother.
6 to 8 just-ripe peaches from Shelburne Orchards
1½ cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1¼ cups sugar, divided
1 stick Cabot unsalted butter
A few drops pure almond extract or Amaretto di Saronno
1 cup Vermont heavy cream (try Strafford Dairy or Butterworks Farm)
4 egg yolks (try the free range eggs at Fair Winds Farm)Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in the peaches and cook for 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl of ice water.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a medium bowl, blend together the flour and ¼ cup of the sugar. Work in the butter with a pastry knife or your fingertips until the mixture almost sticks together. Add a few drops of almond flavoring—be prudent, a little goes a long way. Transfer the mixture to a deep-dish pie pan or quiche pan. Press the dough into the pan and up the sides.
Peel and slice the peaches and place in the pie pan.
In a bowl, whisk together the cream, egg yolks and the remaining 1 cup sugar. Pour over the peaches.
Bake the pie until the custard has set and the top is golden, about 50 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.
Serves 8
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- Cosmic Gazpacho
- Outstanding in a Vermont Field
- Build a Table for a Feast
- Convenience the Slow Way
- Judge Bans Genetically Modified Sugar Beets
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